The Adventure of Ino
by previo
Summary: [AU] Inspired by Hakuoki. Ino, a girl from the Tea Village, was travelling to Konoha to look for her father whom she lost contact with. However, after a string of bad luck, she instead ended up being taken hostage by the guys in Konoha Police Force! How will she cope? Ino reverse-harem , don't like don't read (or just read it ... up to you) Rating is T ... for now *wink*


**HI PEOPLE!  
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**This is my first story in very very long time! So, recently, I just finished the game Hakuoki and I thought, WHAT IF THESE PEOPLE ARE THOSE FROM NARUTOVERSE. And that's how this story is born ;)****And also, even though this story is heavily inspired by Hakuoki, my knowledge of Japanese history was extremely limited and most of it came from Eiji Yoshikawa's book, Taiko, and even that book was about the era before the Edo period (now I'm just rambling, sorry) SO it's not completely Hakuoki based and the universe is becoming my own made up universe that was a little bit parallel to Hakuoki's universe but Naruto-version.  
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**... Just read it!**

**Obviously this is going to be an Ino reverse-harem, so if you don't like it, don't read it!**

_God, how she hated this stupid clothings._

Ino hissed as she cursed inside as she strode along the busy streets of Konoha. The clothes she was wearing was … _hideous_ and it was not the kind of clothing any woman should ever wear. However, circumstances forced her to do that, because her stupid, _stupid _father had to stop sending her letter and haunting her with premonitions after premonitions every night. Ino sighed. She promised herself that she'd definitely whack his father really hard for making her sick with worry like this and eventually left the warm and safe cocoon of the Tea Village, their hometown.

Also, for indirectly forcing her to use this shame of a clothing.

However, her best friends from the village had warned her that it was actually dangerous for a woman to journey by her lonesome. Ino knew that both Sakura and Hinata was eager on accompanying her on her search for her father, but she could never live it down should something happen to them. Thus, she insisted that she'd like to go alone and their help was not needed. She was scared shitless, for it was actually the first time she'd go out of the Tea Village _alone._ She knew perfectly well that Sakura and Hinata's warning about the dangers were not merely stories to scare children, Ino knew women who were raped and then killed in the middle of the night in the city. _In the city_. Shall the setting be changed to a dark forest in the middle of the night … She shivered just by the thought of it.

Then, the brilliant Sakura came up with the idea to dress like a man.

It had been a ridiculous idea. Ino still thought that the idea was ridiculous, actually. It was easy for Sakura to tell her to dress like a man, because the pinkette herself was not much of a girly girl herself. Ino was the vainest of them all and yet, she had no other choice. She had seriously considered to buy a little bit appropriate clothing, because even for a man, these clothes could just easily be mistaken as a potato sack or something. However, as if Sakura wanted to rub it in her face even more, she told her to use something that doesn't attract too much attention. Nobody would want to rob peasants, after all.

She was right, once again.

_God. _How Ino wished that Sakura would just for once stop being right all the time. They chose the ugliest piece of clothing they could find and dressed Ino in that. Hinata also came up with the idea of sarashi – a bandage that was used to bind breasts- to further hide her identity. Her chest size were not Hinata's size, but it wasn't the least bit moderate. The results? She made it to Konoha safely. Ino had a mixed feeling about it. She was used to attention, so now, when she walked and nobody even paid attention to her, it hurt her pride a little. Ino took a deep breath. That shouldn't be her concern now. She should focus on finding his father and assure his safety. After that task was accomplished, she could go back home to the Tea Village and lived her normal life again. As she successfully regained her focus, Ino then proceeded to ask around about her father's friend and junior, Shiranui Genma. He was supposed to be pretty famous in Konoha, he once told her.

"Shiranui Genma?" The shop owner gave the name a thought. "No. Never heard of 'im."

Ino sighed in defeat. That was the twentieth person she asked to no avail. Ino thought of the senbon picker. She knew that there was no way a person with a personality like Genma _wouldn't_ be a womanizer. However, she didn't think that he'd lie about his popularity here in the city simply to charm her. The knowledge that Genma, which was the only person she knew had a close relation with his father, was famous in Konoha was the only clue she had relied on coming to Konoha. As it turned out, nobody in Konoha ever heard of him, so how the heck was she supposed to feel now?

Ino gritted her teeth. That definitely added a person to hit as soon as she met him. She muttered her thanks to the shop owner and went out of the store. The sky had turned dark and even though at the moment she looked like a mere peasant, she couldn't risk it all so she'd better checked into an inn. She also figured that she might as well bought something to eat for later. She'd buy bread, she decided. So, she went to the nearest store and asked for a loaf of bread and as she reached for her money ... _It's gone._

Panic started to rise as Ino wildly patted every inch of her body, desperately wishing that she had just misplaced it. She couldn't lose her wallet. No. All her savings were there. If her wallet is missing, then it meant that she couldn't continue her search for her father. Hell, she couldn't even come back to the Tea Village at the first place. Ino steadied her breathing as she closed her eyes as she tried hard to remember where she had been today. Her wallet was still with her just this afternoon. It was also still there when she went out of the seventh store she stopped by. Then, her memory about the wallet was a blur. She hadn't used money ever since.

Ino traced her way back to the store and retraced her step inch by inch. A pessimistic side of her told her that there's no way that the wallet was still going to be there, no matter where she dropped it. There was a lot of money in it and there's no way people wouldn't take it. However, Ino had no other choice. She had to find her wallet to carry on. She wanted to cry but she realized that tears wouldn't do much in this kind of predicament. Hence, she only carefully walked and peered at every possible space there was.

After what felt like hours, God finally smiled at her and miraculously, she found her wallet. She had dropped it near the blacksmith. Ino let a relieved chuckle as she immediately secured it under her clothes. Her triumph didn't last long after all.

"Hey blondie. Is that money you got over there?" A rough, definitely drunken voice greeted her from the back. Ino tensed.

Maybe God didn't smile at her, after all.

She turned around quickly as her hands sneakily reached for the hilt for her kodachi. Her heart sank upon seeing that it was not just _a _man. There were five _drunken_ men in front of her and they all wore a maniacal grin in their face.

"We work for the government, you know. Give us that money and you'd serve your country well." A man said. His friends around him let out a raucous laughter.

She was scared, yes, but she had trained self-defense ever since she was young. Her father had insisted that self-defense was necessary for her to learn and Ino had agreed with that. Ino was confident she could take on one or two amateur swordsman, but five of them …?

They were drunk though.

Surely their reflex would be terribly compromised. Besides, there's no way she'd be giving them her hard-earned money just like that.

"Like hell I will." She was now getting used to her fake bass voice. A ruse to further hide her identity as a woman. She drew her kodachi and the men laughed at her.

"What are you going to do with such short sword, you peasant?" Another spat at her. Ino didn't waver.

"Come and try me." She taunted them. She even had the decency to let out a small smirk from her lips.

Oh, she's so _escaping_ from them. It's almost midnight, so there were almost nobody in the streets and Ino wasn't sure if it would do her any good if she started to bang the door of a completely unexpecting stranger asking for help. The nearest inn was within running distance, but Ino wasn't so sure she could reach that. She was going against five men after all. All five of them had unsheathed their sword and just like the coward she had expected them to be, they all charged toward her at the same time. Instinct started to kick in, as her sword clashed with a sword, the sound of it echoed through the night. Ino could feel blood rushed to her head. She managed to dodge a swing as she ducked and hit one of the man's stomach with her hilt. The man gagged as he fell down, effectively creating a space for her to flee.

So she fled.

The men gave chase hungrily and Ino didn't even think about the direction of where she was running as long as it could get her away from those men. Before long, she found herself lost. She wasn't sure where she was and she was pretty sure the place was not even remotely close to the inn she was heading to. When her legs finally gave way, Ino stopped to catch a breath. The men still ran behind her as Ino tried to steady her breathing as best as she could.

"Oi, the bastard's here." A man shouted at his friends and pointed at her. Ino drew her kodachi once again and even though her hands shivered, she collected every piece of her bravery she had to confront the man. If it's one on one, her chance might improve significantly. She charged at the man with one, sure stroke but before she could reach, suddenly the head of the the unfortunate man was no longer on its shoulder. In one dramatic motion, it flew and fell on the ground above them, blood splattered everywhere. She suddenly felt squeamish upon the sight since it was her first time seeing a severed head. However, she had been saved, so her eyes searched for her savior and it finally landed on a group of white haired man with red glint on their eyes. Their sky blue robes were soaked with blood, hinting that they have taken care the rest of the men as well. Something about them made her reluctant to return her kodachi to its scabbard, so she only lowered it to her side.

"Thank you." She said, not wanting to close the distance either.

She could hear snicker on their side. "Blood …" One of them said as they approached closer. Ino knew that her hunch was right. There was something horribly wrong with these men. Ino quickly did a head count on the men. There were three of them and it was obvious that they were not an amateur. The most frightening part was the fact that these men didn't seem to have interest with her money, it looked like they were interested with _her._ Ino could tell from the small, disgusting chuckle, from the way their eyes looked at her, that they hadn't killed those men to save her. _They simply wanted to kill._ Ino's hand were shaking violently when she slowly got into a fighting stance. Suddenly, the world was colder and her heart beat twice as fast.

So that was what it feels like when death comes near.

"You don't want to fight me." She taunted, her voice was now shrill and scared. It was obvious her taunt fell on deaf ears.

One of the men charged at her first and she knew immediately that these men weren't anywhere the same with the previous bunch of men she encountered earlier. Their speed was _impossible._ Ino shield herself with the sword, once again the sound of meeting steels echoed throughout the night. Her hand were shaking violently already, but the sheer power from it made her grip on the hilt loosen greatly. Ino tightly gripped her hilt.

If she surrendered now, it would cost her her life.

She parried another strike from the other man and merely dodged another strike. The fourth strike, her hands suddenly betrayed her as it lost grip of the hilt. It swung to the far corner of the street. Ino met those eyes once again. She knew there was no way she could talk out of this one. These men were deaf for reasons. They just wanted to kill and kill. Ino swallowed.

Damn her father for all this commotion she had to go through. For the first time tears started to trickle down her face. So this is it. This is the end. She's going to die at the hand of some random men who didn't even know that it was _her_, Yamanaka Ino, they killed. She was just another chump on the street. The tears apparently became downpour as regrets after regrets started to rain down on her mind. She shouldn't have gone and waited faithfully for her father to come home, should she?

Oh, and she had to die in this abomination of a clothing as well.

Ino thought that she should have worn her best clothes and wore all the makeup instead. That way, even though she died, she died beautifully. People would be like, '_A beautiful girl was killed last night. Such a shame!' _and now they would only be like '_A peasant was killed last night. Pretty sure nobody would miss him though'. _Ino took a careful step back. Maybe she could run away from this.

Ha. Who was she joking? She had seen the speed of those people. There was no way in hell she could outmatch that. Ino's breath became rugged as the men inched closer. His bloody silver blade gleamed in the moonlight as he raised his it, ready to do the final strike. Ino closed her eyes.

The sound of slashing followed was horrible and wet and everything a murder in her mind would sound like and she found herself clenched her eyes shut tighter and tighter.

_Wait._

She then realized that it wasn't her that got slashed and cut open. Ino dared herself to open her eyes and found out that the men with the white haired was no longer. Instead, now two sets of eyes were looking at her, judging her.

"Should we kill her?" The brown haired man peered at the red haired man who was standing next to him.

Ino's heart fell. So she wasn't exactly safe either. Tonight had been a series of murderers after murderers for her. Suddenly she missed the group of ronin who was merely asking for her money.

"It won't be up to us." The red haired man said, much to Ino's relief. Although Ino had a feeling that he'd have killed her without hesitation if she said even one wrong word. "Let's wait for the commander to deliver her verdict."

_Her verdict_? Whatever did she do wrong?

She wanted to ask but then she realized that these men wore the same robe the white haired man did. Ino's eyes narrowed.

"I've taken care of them all." A voice came as a man rushed to them. The third man had a long, brown hair that was almost as long as hers. It looked so smooth under the moonlight and for a moment there, Ino was mesmerized by the figure before her.

Then, her mind came back and she thought that she should really ask for his shampoo if she had the chance. _If she can get away safely from all this._

"Ah. Neji-fukuchou." The brown haired man grinned as he greeted the man. "We found someone who might have witnessed … _it. _I think we should kill him, he might be a spy for all we care."

The one called Neji turned to her and as their gaze met, Ino felt the urge to both look away and explain herself.

"Who are you?" His voice came harsh and cold.

"_Who are you?_" Ino bit back. Well, at least, these men talked. Neji frowned in dismay.

"I'm Hyuuga Neji. The Vice Commander of Konoha Police Force."

Oh. That famous Konoha Police Force. No wonder the sky blue robe were familiar. Words had it that they were all, indeed, killers who uses justice as their excuse.

Meh.

"I'm Yamanaka Ino." Ino said. She had no title or position, so her statement had gone plain just like that.

"Are you a spy?" The brown haired man chimed in. Ino snorted.

"I wouldn't have told you even if I was, right? What's the point of asking that again?"

The brown haired man furrowed his eyebrows. "You should have learned to watch your mouth better. Let's just kill this boy and get it over with, Fukuchou." Neji turned to the red haired man, as if looking for input.

"I'd do whatever you told me to do." The red haired man said.

Ino knew that she was treading on a thin line here, what with her snarky comeback as well, but she was pissed off at life, for giving her a series of unfortunate incidents in just one night, and she wasn't so scared of death anymore anyway. What is death anyway?

The suspense about whether she'd die or not earlier was killing her already and there's no way she'd fall for the same situation once again.

Kill her, don't kill her. Decide already.

"What did you see?" The man named Neji asked her once again.

"I saw your men tried to kill me, fought them, lost, and when they were about to deliver the final blows, these two came and kill them. Apparently not to save me, but to kill me as well." She said.

"No. I mean, what did you _see_?" Neji insisted once again.

Ino then realized that the reason they were considering on killing her was because there were some secrets they thought she had seen. But what …? Ino then realized that whatever that is, it's better that she didn't know. Yes, death were so scary earlier and now it's not so scary anymore, but Ino still much preferred life, thank you.

"That's all I see." Ino replied. Her voice was strained.

"We can't really trust him. Better safe than sorry." The brown haired man persisted. Ino then looked at the brown haired man. She took a deep breath. This is crazy, she'd gotten into this kind of situation for the _third_ time in the night.

"Take their robes." Neji said, his voice came husky. "We'll let Aburame deal with the rest of the body."

The red haired man nodded and immediately took away the sky blue robes which was draped on the now dead men. Ino felt a cold gaze lingered on her, as if judging her.

"As for you. You come with us. Run and I will kill you. Get it?"

So now she was a prisoner. Great. Just great. Ino closed her eyes.

"Yes, I get it." She replied.

"Are you sure about that?" The brown haired man asked Neji once again.

"As far as I'm concerned, he's innocent. We shouldn't kill people so easily, Kankuro. Mindset like yours are the reason why we have such a bad reputation." The long haired man told him in a tone that told everyone that his decision was final.

Kankuro groaned and muttered something like 'Don't blame me if something happened later' and they started to walk away. Ino knew very well that even though that they seemed like they were walking away from her and paid no mind to her, the moment she ran away to the other direction, she'd be dead.

Thus, she dragged herself to follow them, cursing all the way.

XXX

It would have been a beautiful morning had she not awaken with rope tying her all over her body. Ino felt soreness all over her body and took a deep breath. At least these men had the decency to give her a room instead of simply threw her at one of the cold dungeons. She laughed bitterly. It was so miserable, the fact that she somehow still manage to find a positive in these maelstroms of negativities. The door was slid open and a man came inside. Unlike the men from last night, this man has a very nice aura about him. He looked like someone she could trust her life to.

"Ah, you've woken up." The man said, his warm voice matched his demeanor. "I'm Akimichi Chouji. Your presence is required at the common room."

"My presence?"

"Yes. We've been talking about your verdict ever since morning. But then again, we think it's best to hear that from you directly."

"We?"

"The captains." Chouji smiled again.

Ino sighed as she let the man untied her rope, leaving her free except for the rope on her wrist. Basically, this was just the continuation of last night, right?

'Let's kill Ino but let's think about it long and hard first', episode two.

The man seemed to read his mind because he chuckled and gave her an assuring look. "Don't worry. Beneath what you've seen were actually good men."

Ino nodded absently. She was pretty sure good men wouldn't talk about killing people so easily. They walked in silence to the common room even though questions were crowding her mind. Not so long after, they finally arrived at the common room. The door was slid open and several set of eyes looked at her.

"I've brought the boy." Chouji announced as he strode in and ushered Ino to sit in front of the rest of them.

The silence was overbearing.

"So …" Ino started. She was too uncomfortable with the silence.

"Good morning, everyone!" An enthusiastic voice suddenly echoed throughout the room as the door were slid open once again. Ino turned around to see who it was. A man with a considerably thick eyebrows strode inside.

"I'm so sorry I'm late! The president wants to have a talk so early in the morning." He said as he sat himself next to the man named Neji.

"Ah! Is this the witness from last night, Neji?"

"Yes." Neji answered curtly.

"Oh! Such a young kid!" The man exclaimed. "I was thinking about a middle aged man all along."

"Gee." A blonde haired man with whiskers on his face commented. "Gaara had specifically told us it is a boy, Lee."

Lee, which is apparently the name of the man with the thick eyebrows laughed and scratched the back of his head. "Really?"

"Well, anyway! I'm Rock Lee, the chief of Konoha Police Force." He introduced himself to Ino. He then pointed at Neji. "That's my vice chief, Hyuuga Neji."

"Hey, Lee. Don't tell him things." Neji scolded him. "We don't know if we could trust this guy."

"Don't worry, Neji! He looked like we can trust him." Lee patted her on the back.

"Gaara, will you please tell us again what happened last night?"

The red haired man shrugged. "Yes. There were news about ronins roaming the streets last night, and so we send our unit to subdue them. In doing so, it became more apparent that the unit was indeed, a failure."

"I wouldn't be so quick to jump into that conclusion, Gaara." A smooth voice commented. Ino noticed that now it was a pale skinned man who looked like he'd never seen a day of sunlight. He then turned at Lee.

"I'm still working on the unit. By the time I'm done, it would be brilliant."

"I never doubted you, Sai." Lee gave the man an uneasy smile. He then turned to Ino who was silently observing the situation.

"Then, how do you fit into all these?"

Ino gave it a thought. "The ronin Gaara talks about was chasing me. They want my wallet but I don't want to give it to them, so I fled. They gave chase and before I could do anything, your men had beheaded them."

The squeamish feeling wormed its way back to her throat. "I said thanks, but it fell on deaf ears. They approached me and I'm pretty sure it's not to ask if I was okay."

"Which I'm not, by the way." Ino muttered silently.

"Do you notice something strange?" A lazy voice asked from the far corner of the room. Only then Ino noticed a man who was sitting there. His bronze eyes were gauging her from head to toe.

"It's hard noticing things when your necks are on the line." She gave him a saccharine smile. Ino exactly knew what the guy was talking about. White haired and red eyes? What the hell is wrong with that? However, she knew better to keep her mouth shut about it. Kankuro laughed.

"See? Told ya. This one got a pretty sharp mouth."

Lee smiled. "Looks like he's just an innocent bystander here."

Another brown haired man with a red streak of paint beneath his eyes looked at her.

"He saw everything, though."

Ino huffed. The conversation just meaninglessly looped since last night. She was innocent but she saw everything. They shouldn't kill people but how else would they do that without killing her.

"Do you have something on your mind?" Chouji asked her.

Ino looked at him with a startled look.

Finally, _finally_ someone who cared about her opinion. "It just seems that it's unfair, you know. Your men messes up and _I_ get to pay?"

The overbearing silence came yet again. There were uncomfortable looks that were shared among the captains. The silence were broken by Neji.

"We need some more time to talk this over. Chouji, if you'll please escort him back to his room?"

Chouji nodded but Ino knew the look that was shared by the men in there. It was the uneasy look that practically screamed 'We have no other way!'

This nice looking Chouji might kill her as soon as she stepped out the room. So she did what she thought would be her one last chance to help her chance of survival. She bowed deeply to the men.

"Please spare my life. I am innocent and I have no idea why I need to be killed." She said.

Kankuro's laughter was the first one to fill her ear. "You're pretty submissive at the face of death, aren't you?"

It angered her because Kankuro was right. It wasn't Ino to beg like that and the man had the decency to laugh at her when she just gave away the last bit of her pride.

"Kankuro, shut it." Neji told him sternly. He then looked at Ino.

"We heard your plea, now please leave the room so that we can talk." Neji said. Ino sighed as she rose her body from the bowing position and that was when the Gods decided to give her one more misery.

_Ts._

The sound of fabrics ripping echoed throughout the room. It took her seconds to realize it but as she felt the bind on her chest loosened, Ino knew what had happened. Her sarashi was ripped.

Ino stayed on her half-bowing position, mostly because she didn't want the men to realize what had happened and also because it would be incredibly embarrassing.

"What's that?" The blonde asked. "Did your clothes ripped?"

It would have been much less embarrassing if it was only her clothes that was ripped. At least it would give her reason to buy newer, better clothes. Ino froze.

"I …" She said. Maybe she could stay in this position and crawled to the door?

"What's wrong?" Neji asked.

Ino took a deep breath. She'd really prefer that the men didn't know that she had lied to them about her gender. It would not made them trust her more to know that she's lying. However, now that she thinks about it, it's not like she had told them that she was a man herself. They just assume and she didn't say anything about it.

Okay then. Ino rose, her now free breasts easily caused the fabric of her clothes to partiallysplit open, showing the rest of the room her cleavage. Lee, Chouji and the blonde haired man gasped and immediately looked away, but the rest of the room's eyes still glued on her.

"My sarashi was ripped, I guess." She let out a chuckle, suddenly finding confidence now that she was back to being a _woman_ now. "I'll take my leave then."

She was about to stand up when Lee said. "No, no, no. Please stay. I think you owe us an explanation."

Ino raised her eyebrows. "What explanation?" She feigned innocence.

It was weird how that sarashi changed her. She could feel like she regained her old self once again now. She was more confident. She was more … _Ino._

"You're a girl!" Lee squealed.

"I'm a girl." She agreed.

"How? Why?" Lee asked. Neji tsk'd and decided that he'd took control.

"Why is a girl walking alone in the night was what Lee wanted to ask." Neji said. His gaze was just as predatory as he was before.

"I lost my wallet so I went and search for it." Ino said.

"Emphasis on the alone." Sai said. "What are you doing on a city as dangerous as Konoha alone?"

"I'm looking for my father." Ino said. "He went on a trip to Konoha and I haven't heard of him for weeks. I'm worried about him, so I went after him."

"Ah. Hence the crossdressing." The blonde nodded, though he still avoided her.

"Perhaps we know your father? Konoha Police Force knew a lot of people you know." The brown haired guy with the red streak of paints beneath his eyes said.

"Well, Kiba, we don't exactly deal with missing persons …" The blonde said. The man named Kiba rolled his eyes.

"We deal with everyone who needs help, Naruto. Don't be so picky like that."

That was a good idea.

"My father is Yamanaka Inoichi. Do you know him?"

Another overbearing silence engulfed the room. The whole room now looked at her with the same flabbergasted look, as if she was a ghost or something.

"You are Yamanaka Ino as in the _daughter _of Yamanaka Inoichi?" Neji asked, his voice was merely a touch above a whisper.

"Yes."

Lee gasped. "What, but then …"

"Shino!" Neji barked. The door slid open and not so long after, a man appeared. He wore a black ninja clothes and sunglasses.

"Fetch me Shiranui Genma." Neji said. "Tell him it's important."

"Yes."

Upon hearing the familiar name, Ino could feel things started to look up for her. Damn, instead of asking around, she should just go straight to the Konoha Police Force headquarter as soon as she arrived. However, Konoha Police Force didn't have an exactly good reputation and she really preferred if she could steer clear from scary men. That opinion still hadn't changed.

"What use is Shiranui here?" Kiba asked. "She looks for her father, not his philandering henchmen."

"I don't know philanderer hates each other." Naruto snickered.

"Whaaat?" Kiba replied as he smacked Naruto's head. "I have class you know, that Shiranui just do every hole there is."

"You two, shut up! We are at the presence of a woman here!" Lee scolded them. He then blushed as he looked at Ino.

"While we're waiting for Shiranui, maybe we could get you something that makes you, um … _more comfortable_?"

Ino then realized that Lee had focused so much on her face it was obvious that he was avoiding to look at her cleavage. Ino wanted to giggle. It's just cleavage, for God's sake. However, she had a hunch that she wasn't exactly in the clear yet, so she held it in.

"No. It's fine." She shrugged. Kankuro grinned.

"You're not modest at all, aren't you?"

"I'm surprised that you're surprised." Ino retorted. "Anyway, you guys seem to know about my father. Do you know where he is?"

"No, we don't." The pineapple haired guy now answered. "In fact, we're looking for him as well."

"Huh? Why? Is he a criminal or something?" Worried started to creep into her heart. If it were that way, there's no way she's leaving this room with her head attached. Or, maybe she could get out with it attached at the cost of having to betray her father or something like that, and at that point, Ino honestly would rather be beheaded and died. Her father might turn out to be a super villain who plotted to rule the world, but Ino would never betray him.

"Until we confirm that you're the real daughter of Yamanaka Inoichi, we can't confer anything else." Neji narrowed his eyes.

Oh. So that was what Genma was for.

"And if we found out that you lied, only God knows what will happen." His words were harsh and cold.

"You'll kill me. Message received." Ino said.

"You're pretty calm for someone who had just bowed so deeply her sarashi broke while begging us to spare her life." Kankuro grinned.

Ino rolled her eyes. She needed to get away from this man or she'd never hear the end of his teasing.

"It's not funny, Kankuro." Naruto said. "If she was really the daughter of Inoichi-san then we …"  
>"Naruto, shut up." Gaara spoke up. He's been quiet for some time now. "This woman might be a spy."<p>

Naruto and Kiba both groaned. "Oh, come on. Have you looked at her? There's no way she's a spy." Naruto pointed out.

"Why?" Ino asked, half offended. It's not like she wanted to be qualified to be a spy or something like that, but why wasn't she?

"The fact that you're offended by that remark said it all." The pineapple haired guy yawned and stretched. "Also, you don't have the lithe build required for a spy."

"Did you say that I'm fat?!" Her voice almost came like a shout.

To hell with whether she's been in the clear or not. No one's telling her that she's fat.

It was Lee that get flustered upon her exclamation. "Shikamaru! You should never call a woman fat! Apologize at once!"

"I'm not calling her fat." Shikamaru said in a sound that made him sounded like he was whining. "I'm just saying she's not lithe. It's two totally different things."  
>"Nevertheless!" Lee persisted.<p>

Ino gave Lee a beaming smile. "Thanks, Lee-san. You're such a gentleman."

Lee beamed back. "It's my pleasure."

Neji sighed. "You shouldn't get too cozy with him, Lee. We might kill her."

Lee frowned and was about to say something when the door was open and for the first time in weeks, a familiar face came inside the room. The senbon picker looked like that he was still clueless until he saw Ino's face.

"Ah, Ino-chan? What are you doing here wearing that hideous clothing?"

Of course Genma would notice this hideous clothing. Even Ino started to forget about that.

"Are you going all the way to Konoha to chase after me?" He flicked his senbon, there was an amused glint in his dark eyes. Ino pouted. Genma was half right, actually.

"Do you know this girl, Shiranui?" Neji's cold emotion easily shattered the warmth of reunion in the room. Only then Genma realized everything.

The hideous clothes.

The rope tightly binding her wrists.

"Oh no, you don't." He shook his head.

"Answer my question." Neji ignored him.

"Ino, what have they done to you?" Genma asked as he ignored Neji just the same and rushed to untie her rope. Gaara was about to prevent Genma for doing that but Lee gave him a signal to stay. "Are you okay?"

"I am not." Ino sighed. "These people called me fat and tried to kill me just because I saw something I'm not supposed to see that I don't even know what."

Genma's face visibly paled. He turned to the rest of the room. "Oh no, you don't."

"Stop repeating those words, Shiranui." Kiba groaned. "Just tell us who the hell she is."

"She's the only daughter of Yamanaka Inoichi, you idiots!" Genma said as he pulled Ino into his hug. "I'm so sorry you have to go through all that."

Ino whacked Genma's head as soon as he let go.

"Ouch! What was that for?"

"For lying to me! You're not famous _at all _here in Konoha. Nobody knows you!"

Genma scratched his head. "If you asked commoners surely they wouldn't know my name, Ino-chan. I'm popular with the high ranking people."

"How the hell am I supposed to know that?! Be more specific next time!"  
>"I will, I will. I'm sorry." Genma let out an easy laugh.<p>

"Good. Then can we go?"

The silence that followed gave Ino the impression that the answer wouldn't be yes.

"Mm. Actually, Ino …" Genma looked at the rest of the room, begging for help.

"I think it's best that you stay here." Neji chimed in.

"Why?"

"Inoichi is currently gone missing and we're also looking for him."

A flash of worry and fear painted her face. "Why? Why is he missing? Did somebody kidnap him?"

"It's not a kidnapping." Gaara said. "Inoichi just went on his own account and hadn't come back for three weeks now."

"Okay then. Doesn't change why I can't stay with Genma." She pointed at the senbon picker. Naruto raised his eyebrows.

"Huh? You don't know? Your father is the current strongest candidate as the next president."

Thunder, lightning, any dramatic sounds, felt like roaring above her.

"What …? My father? President?"

Genma sighed. "He didn't want to tell you before it's fixed."

Ino massaged her head. "My father was a doctor. Like, a normal one. Not a president. You might mistake me for another Yamanaka Ino."

"That's why it's dangerous for you to roam about the city! People would try to kidnap you and does bad things to you. Aren't these guys perfect to protect you? You both looked for him as well!"

"These guys tried to kill me!" Ino shouted.

"Oh please, woman, we have to eliminate any possible threat for the force." Kankuro said. Ino gave him a pointed look.

"They don't even regret it!"

Genma patted her head. "These guys might be rough and unrefined like me, but they mean well. They're the perfect guys for protecting you."

"They tried to kill me … What make you so sure that they won't change side suddenly and decided to kill me?"

"Hey! We're not like that." Naruto said. "We won't betray the government."

"They're calling me fat!"

"Seriously. Now you're just being a spoiled kid." Shikamaru, the culprit of said misunderstanding, rolled his eyes.

"Ino-san … We're really sorry." Lee said. "It is very wrong for us to try to judge you wrongly."

Then, he did the most unexpected. He bowed in front of her.

"I'm really, really sorry."  
>"Oi, oi, Lee. Was that necessary …" Neji said but the man didn't budge. Neji followed him and soon the rest of the room followed him.<p>

Ino was completely stunned. She didn't expect the rest of the room to bow for her. A sincere and heartfelt apology was enough, but now …

"See? Good men." Genma said.

"You don't have to do that." Ino didn't know what else to say so she bowed as well.

"Ino, it's not that I don't welcome the view, but your breasts were clearly visible to me if you're bowing like that." Genma said. Ino immediately rose and gave the senbon picker an annoyed look.

"Pervert." She immediately rose at the same time as Lee. Genma grinned.

"Well then. I'll excuse myself." Genma patted her head. "Cheer up, dear. This way, you'd get to have better clothes."

Yeah. The prospect of a better clothing was enough to cheer her up.

"No. It'd be preferable if she kept wearing man's clothes for a while." Neji's cold and emotionless voice immediately burst her bubble of hope.

"What … But why …"

"It'd be easier to protect you that way." He gave Ino a stern look. "Besides, it would be bad for reputation if we kept a woman in the headquarters."

"I don't … Genma …" Ino looked at Genma, begging for help.

Genma shrugged even though there was a grin on his face. "Doctor's word, Ino."

"But you're the doctor. He's just same random people who thinks he has authority."

Snickers spread across the room.

"Hey. It's not like we're so eager to have you." Neji told her pointedly.

"Exactly! Then I'll be on my way." Ino stood up.

"Listen, Ino. This is your best chance of finding Inoichi. Don't you want to find him?" This time, the pale skinned man spoke up. Sai, if she wasn't mistaken.

"Yes." Ino looked away from his glare. Neji was scary, but something about Sai, behind his cold smile, was even scarier.

"Good. So stay with us, help us, and obey us."

She couldn't really argue with this man, right?

"If my father appeared to only be having a vacation, I'll so kill him."

Genma smiled. "Please do, my dear."

* * *

><p><strong>HOW IS IT? PLEASE SHARE YOUR THOUGHT IN THE REVIEW SECTION!<strong>

**Of course I can't help but to spoil Ino by making her the daughter of the soon-to-be president. Hur hur.**


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